District 95/7: Taxpayer subsidy or taxpayer relief?

Robert Koch

Published
7:00 pm EST, Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Democratic Councilwoman Nora K. King says she's not against development but does oppose "poorly-managed development." Common sense told most people "that economic change was coming and projects like 95/7 were going to be in serious trouble," she said.

Said King: "Asking the taxpayers to carry this burden is not an option. The builders and developers now need to stand on their own feet and without tax credits and determine what their plan moving forward will be."

"It’s easy to castigate it and say, ‘We shouldn’t be subsidizing it,’" Sheehan said. "But the flipside of it is if you don’t build it, you’ve got a greater subsidy that you as a property owner are going to have to pay back to the city of Norwalk."

Some of the incentives, he adds, don't involve taxpayer subsidies. For instance, the city could amend its zoning regulations to require less parking and allow denser construction.

King, an appraisor, rejects that commercial development will lower homeowners' tax bills, based on what she has seen in Stamford. She hopes that the matter of possible incentives for District 95/7 SoNo comes to the council.

"I can only hope it does because I really want to to speak out on it," King said. "I’m not in support of tax credits for the project."